Caution & Truth
by WillowedChild
Summary: A story in which OC, Angleic makes her troubles known and we find out that Draco might just have a heart.


**So hi! I don't have much to say, so I'll just say this before the story starts; I own nothing but my OC for this story. Also, credit to the Harry Potter Wiki for random bits of information.**

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**Caution &amp; Truth**

Draco found the girl at the Clock Tower Courtyard sitting on one of the benches of the stone gazebo. Her legs were up close to her chest with her arms wrapped around them tightly. Her long dark auburn hair was out of its usual messy bun and was now the only thing that kept him from seeing her face. A beautiful sparkly navy blue dress cuddled her body and ended just above her knees, with a black cardigan and high-heels resting beside an open rectangle purse on the ground.

The girl was looking up at the night sky, probably admiring the tiny lights that blanketed the Earth, though you could never be too sure when it came to her. A cool breeze flew past them, ruffling their hair. If he wasn't so aware of his surroundings, Draco never would have guessed he had hidden behind a wall for almost two hours straight. She shivered, sniffed, then quietly sneezed, mumbling a complaint afterward. Draco wanted to go over to her to see if she was okay. It was clear she wasn't, but for some reason he had to confirm his hunch.

The thing was, something was holding him back. It wasn't clear why he had this strange feeling. All he _did_ know was that the sensation had to be fought, starting by moving away from the stone in front of him. She began to hum a tune he had heard only once before when walking the deserted halls of Hogwarts. He recalled discreetly trying to find the owner of the voice for months without a breakthrough. The search was put on hold when the third term of his third year ended. Today was the last day of the school year and tonight all Hogwarts students would go back home to their families.

Despite his animosity towards Hogwarts, Draco didn't want to leave. In his eyes, his own home was just as bad. Growing up as a child was hard enough. Being taught to hate half-bloods and muggle-borns was expected of the Malfoys', but other people never really understood how bad the punishments were. The age didn't matter or how wrong the doing was. Take cleaning his room for instance. If he were to leave a single fallen feather under the eagle owls cage on the floor, the punishment would result with a whack of the dreaded silver snake-tipped cane. And it only got worse as he got older. The thought made his blood boil. Being here at Hogwarts made him feel that little bit safer.

"…once the time goes by, the water will be there…"

Her gentle mumbles brought him back to reality. The voice he had looked for was hiding in plain sight the whole time, hidden behind textbooks and a brave face. He couldn't believe it. Before Draco could stop himself, he stepped aside the brick wall and walked forward until he reached half away across the clearing. The steps were very faintly heard to his ears. At this point, small pebbles littered the stone surface, which seemed to be threatening to give away his position. Now that he was immobile, Draco had to make the choice whether to keep going or cower back to the Slytherin Common Room.

Was it worth it? Coming all this way, and for what? A girl who probably hated him? What would he possibly get out of this? His pale grey eyes looked over towards the girl once more. Of course she was worth it. She was Angelic Radovic, the girl who amazed all. So, the cycle resumed with each foot stepping closer to the other. Confidence built up inside him with every footstep he took. As he got closer to her, however, he accidentally kicked a pebble. It sharply skidded to the right behind another bench, producing a_ skit, skit, skitting_ sound as it scraped the rough surface.

He immediately froze in an awkward position. Arms were held in mid-swing, fingers apart in a crooked way, knees slightly bent, legs tense and his faced expressed a look that seemed to scream, 'WHAT DID I JUST DO?!'. His heart began to pump faster with his lungs working double time to keep up with the rest of the body. In out, in out, in out. The icy cold air went through his nose and out his mouth frantically. _Calm down Malfoy_ said his inner voice as he mentally scowled himself.

Who knew this would get so intense? His muscles loosened and he stood up straight, gripping the folded tips of his open black suit jacket and flicked it forward so it straightened as well. He sighed, feeling a little recovered. A new feeling crept inside him. It told him something was missing. That's when he noticed something _was_ different. Another sniff caught his attention and he realized the humming had stopped. His eyes darted to the direction of the girl. She was still facing away with her head tilted up. Draco took another cautious step forward.

Laughter suddenly echoed down the nearby Covered Bridge, which connected the Clock Tower to the Clock Tower Courtyard. Angelic jumped in her place tearing her eyes away from the sky and, thankfully, glanced over her left shoulder and not her right. Draco looked back too. Two second year Hufflepuff girls in their canary yellow and black robes slowly stumbled their way past the old bridge's entrance, clutching each other's arms as they cackled widely and struggled to stay standing.

Draco and Angelic watched as the girls disappeared down the hill. The wind blew furiously making them both shudder. Why was she out here? Surely there were places in the castle she could've gone instead. When his eyes focused back on Angelic, she was looking down at something on the ground in the direction the pebble had gone in. After a few long minutes had passed she took a breath and spoke.

"What do you want, Draco?"

There was no mistaking the troubled falter in her voice. _She must have got a look at me when I was distracted._ Well, there was no point in hanging back now. Slowly, Draco stalked his way over to her, still finding himself cautious, though he didn't know what for. Whenever in Angelic's presence, he always felt as though he had to be careful, not wanting her to think too badly of him. Now was no exception. Still, he _did_ have a reputation to keep in mind. A sort of expected realisation truck Draco when he approached the girl. His dreaded assumption was indeed correct, she was no okay at all.

It only seemed right to stand a foot or so away from Angelic just in case and for good reason. The moment her hair couldn't hide her face anymore, a pang of guilt hit him hard. Her small nose had gone red and under her eyes were red and puffy also. Still wet tear streaks shimmered down her cheeks in the moonlight. She looked miserable, irritated and exhausted. The rumors he heard from other students were true. All the name calling and false stories had finally gotten the better of her. Draco never thought he would see the day she would break, but here they were. He felt sorry for her, not that he would ever say it out loud, though.

"Why do you call me Draco and not Malfoy like everyone else?" he mused.

"I asked first."

No one could say Angelic took crap from anybody. There was a certain fierceness to her, a fierceness that always seemed to show most when she tried to stand her ground. Draco couldn't help but smile and chuckle lightly as she did so with that fact. His smile quickly faded at the thought of the question. What did he want? It was obvious she was distraught, and he wanted to help. But how could he, would she even let him? Questions were swarming in his head. A voice in Draco's mind struggled to shout above them. Angelic, who hadn't moved a muscle, all of a sudden looked up and met his gaze.

If he felt bad before, this was a hundred times worse. Just look at those _eyes!_ They were an intense icy blue. You could see the sorrow and suffering swimming in the trapped tears of the orbs. _Say something!_ the inner voice cried. But Draco wasn't listening. He couldn't. It was as if he was in a trance, and he didn't even want to break free from it. The two stared into each other's eyes for a long time until she looked away with a look of disgust.

"Bet you came to gloat," she said flatly.

Confusion struck him at that comment. _Why would I need to gloat?_ All the stories and lies he had heard hadn't been started by him. Sure, Draco _knew_ who did, and he may have laughed along with his gang, but he never intended on hurting her. _She doesn't think I started the rumors… does she?_ No. Now was not the time to think about this. In a sort of instinct to act, Draco walked over and sat down next to her. As he did so, Angelic brought her legs down and shuffled over creating a reasonable gap between them.

"Actually, I came to see if you were alright. It's not every day someone sees you like this, you know."

Angelic took a moment to process what he said, then slowly began to shake her head, laughing darkly with not a hint of humor. "Alright? Did you come to see if _I_, the _muggle-lover_, was alright? Why would you even care?"

The question was simple, and she had every right to ask it. But again, an answer didn't come to mind. It was odd how he couldn't answer her questions straight away, but he could answer anyone else's in a heartbeat. Could there be something wrong with him? The problem had started after he had overheard a conversation between Pansy and Angelic that most likely wasn't meant for him to hear. It was purely by accident, of course. No one could stop their ears from tuning in after waking up from a well-deserved rest, it just couldn't be done.

"I would expect something like this from one of Parkinson's _acquaintances_ – pretending to care just to see me finally crack – but not you, Draco, not you. It's amazing I lasted this long. I honestly don't know how I did it. People don't understand how hard it is. You Purebloods get it so easy, while the rest of us are pretty much frowned upon. What sucks is that everyone knows me as that half-blood chick that was put in Slytherin by mistake. The sick part is that I actually believe it. Why can't I just run away and start over, just pack my bags and head to Italy? That's where I belong, not here, I've never belonged here. Voglio solo andare a casa."

Draco listened intently as she ranted. Halfway through the speech, she got up and paced back and forth as if to distract her of his presence, but soon gave up and sat back down. Now she sighed, arms hugging her waist. How could someone be so broken? Without thinking, Draco slid across the bench and wrapped his arms around her. Out of instinct, it seemed, she turned to him and buried her face in his chest as she broke out into a sob. There was nothing for him to say or nothing that would help the situation anyway.

As he thought so, Draco tightened his hold on her a bit and he hoped it gave off the impression of comfort. What was that Muggle saying? Actions speak louder than words? If so, at least that's one thing Muggles' got right. Draco gently rubbed an endless circle on her back that in time helped soothe her. Angelic managed to stop herself from crying after some time, and when she finally did, she lifted her head up a little bit while keeping her eyes closed. The intention of this act was simply to breathe fresh air, but subconsciously there was a want for something much more personal. Draco soon realized their lips were close to meeting and he wondered if Angelic somehow knew this too. He sat frozen, debating whether or not to pull away.

Just as it appeared they were about to kiss, Angelic also froze and snapped back expressing an emotion Draco couldn't quite read. Was it anger, hurt or self-betrayal maybe? "What am I doing?" she muttered to herself. His grey eyes followed Angelic as she wriggled out of his embrace, scrambled over to where her belongings were, gathered them up into her arms and sprinted to her escape. Their eyes connected for a moment more when she reached the first few wooden planks and looked back. "He doesn't care."

Bewilderment concurred Draco's features which neither she nor anyone else had seen before. This wasn't the time to worry about that, though. Angelic turned back and ran away with tears falling down her cheeks once again. He stared at the spot she stood in only a few seconds ago wondering what in the world just happened. It didn't take long for him to come to his senses and realise what he'd just gotten himself into. Immediately he stood up and raced across the bridge hoping he wasn't too late. If he was, and he couldn't find her in time, all the restriction Draco had put himself through in every class for the past three years would be for nothing.

He almost tripped over logs and large rocks hurrying down the hill's greyish white stone steps that led to the Hogwarts castle. His journey wasn't long before he spotted Angelic about twenty-five meters ahead, slowing down to prevent herself from bumping into other students. Draco slowed to a walk. Another twenty meters to her right, a girl Draco recognised as Sherakee Belair, Angelic's Ravenclaw muggle-born best friend also caught sight of her and dashed over, abandoning what looked to be a study group as she did.

"Angie, that you? Hold up!" Sherakee called.

Angelic turned with a startled look that quickly changed to relief at the sight of her friend. She muttered something he couldn't make out and Sherakee expressed a mixed look of concern and confusion in response. The Mudblood then noticed Angelic's hair and began to stare at it mesmerized. That was when Draco remembered something Pansy had told him just over a week ago. No one at Hogwarts had ever seen Angelic with her hair down. According to Parkinson, it was because of trust issues or something, he wasn't really paying attention at the time. But it did explain a lot.

"Y-your hair— it- it's beautiful!" Sherakee stammered.

"Oh, not now Sher, please! Oh no—"

Angelic had scanned the area and saw Draco. Uncharacteristically he looked away, trying to avoid her gaze. While doing this, he became aware of himself catching his breath while standing stationary. After a few seconds, he looked up again and saw Sherakee glaring at him.

"C'mon, let's get inside before we freeze," she suggested in a much loud tone than necessary while nudging Angelic in the direction of the castle.

The two then ran up to the castle and disappeared up the stone steps. Once again, the girl he had been searching for had gotten away.

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**So yeah, it kind of ended abruptly, sorry 'bout that. The was supposed to continue by switching to Angelic's point of view, but I have decided not to continue on for now. And for those who are wondering what 'Voglio solo andare a casa' translates to: 'I just want to go home' from Italian. ****So, I hoped you liked the story. Please let me know what you thought, comments are greatly appreciated. Be sure to check out _How a Bookworm Gets Her Book Back_, where some students just _love_ to interrupt Angie from a good book.**

**Until next time,**

**Bye-bye!**


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